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Day: 7 April 2016

Student tackles Cameron on his ‘personal experience’ of tax avoidance

Written by Jennifer Sterne on . Posted in News.

David Cameron, despite avoiding media questions, has been ambushed by a student at Exeter University who alluded to Cameron’s “personal experience” of avoiding tax – only a few hours before he revealed this to be true.

Cameron was addressing students on the EU referendum when one student claimed to be “very interested in what the collective EU states could do to combat tax avoidance – something [he claimed Cameron] has personal experience of”.

There were no other direct questions about his tax affairs or the letter which resurfaced recently, which outlined Cameron’s attempt to lobby the EU not to crackdown on offshore trusts.

In response to the student the Prime Minister, with a straight face, stated he had “made tax and transparency the number one issue” at international summits.

The Prime Minister added that Britain was becoming the first country with a register of beneficial owners of companies. He went on to claim that tax, transparency and beneficial ownership would be on the agenda at a planned tax conference in London in May and also spoke of plans to raise £12bn through a crackdown on tax avoidance.

He admitted to the students that more needed to be done to crackdown on tax avoidance, specifically in order to ensure that universities and public services gain more funding.

The press were unable to question Cameron at the event, after the report in the Financial Times revealed he had personally intervened in 2013 to prevent offshore trusts being involved in the EU-wide crackdown on tax avoidance.

After speaking to the students however, he was interviewed by ITV’s Political Editor Robert Peston in which he admitted both he and his wife owned shares in the Panamanian trust set up by his late father. They were sold in 2010 for around £30,000 in 2010.

Cameron told ITV in the exclusive interview that he “wanted to be as clear as I can about the past, about the present, about the future, because frankly I don’t have anything to hide.” Despite having omitted such an involvement from any statements in the four days previous to this revelation.

Cameron’s personal involvement in the ongoing debate over tax avoidance was placed into question after his family’s connections to Blairmore Holdings Inc, the offshore trust set up by his father was brought to light by the leaked papers from the database of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Downing Street initially released a statement claiming that neither David Cameron nor any of his immediate family were benefiting or stand to benefit from offshore funds.

The event in Exeter also caused controversy when it was discovered that while every committee member from Exeter Labour Students was invited, none of the Conservative students receive a group invitation.

Stephen Hawkins, a third-year Exeter student and Conservative City Council Candidate, told Exeposé: “What should have been a fantastic, shining opportunity to meet someone that many of the University of Exeter Conservative Association see as a political juggernaut, has been shrouded with confusion, miscommunication, and opaqueness.”

John Chilvers, president of Exeter Labour Students, speaking to The Independent, said: “I think Cameron must have realised that in Exeter there is only one student political group that is out all year round making a difference in the community—and it’s Labour Students.

“It’s about time that we got the recognition we deserve and I’m pleased this has come from the top.”

Many students on Twitter also complained that in choosing to hold his speech over the Easter holidays, Cameron has deliberately chosen a time when no students were on campus.

Motion to ban Prime Minister from SU to be debated at Senate

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

A motion has been put forward for the next Students’ Union Senate to debate the  banning of Prime Minister David Cameron from the Union building to stop him manipulating “venerable [sic]” students.

The possibly-satirical proposal, titled ‘Ban David Cameron from the Students’ Union building’, calls Cameron a “dangerous Tory” and his government “undemocratic”.

“David Cameron is a dangerous Tory whom has continually attacked the welfare state with the intent of destroying it since the Tory government assumed absolute power in a so called ‘democratic’ vote”, reads the motion.

“David Cameron and his right-wing Tory government were elected by a minority of the electorate, and zero students voted Tory, therefore we must make a stand against this undemocratic regime by banning David Cameron and his Tory government from our democratic Students Union and our University Campus.”

The anonymous submitter goes on to complain that the government’s Junior Doctor contract changes have “violated the Safe Space policy”.

Cameron’s campaign to stay in the EU is questioned too. “David Cameron has said that we should vote to stay in the EU, but he is a Tory and therefore he must have lied…

“To prevent him being able to manipulate venerable students at the University we must ban him.”

Naa Acquah, General , said: “The recent idea which has been submitted by a student to ban David Cameron is an example of us as a union allowing students to openly submit their ideas and policies to our democratic structure. As a Students’ Union, we are committed to empowering our students to shape what the union does or believes by participating in our democratic structures.”

In February a motion was submitted to Senate calling for the banning of controversial and widely unpopular Republican Party nominee Donald Trump from the building.

Senate will take place on the 14th of April. Other motions to be discussed include opposition to bursary cuts, the introduction of an Inclusion Officer in all society committees, and the creation of a dedicated studio for Fuse TV in the new SU redevelopment.

Positive coping mechanisms may help UK academics deal with stress of the job

Written by Rossy Natale on . Posted in News.

A new study has found that possessing certain character traits allows academics to cope better with stress in the workplace.

Stress is undoubtedly a huge issue in the workplace across many professions, and those in academia are clearly no exception. A 1998-2004 study conducted by the Association of University Teachers found 49 per cent of academics have levels of stress high enough to require treatment. This was 5 per cent higher than what was reported by A&E consultants.

‘Stress Among UK Academics: Identifying who Copes Best’ is a new study that challenges the constantly negative portrayal of stress in psychological research. Ann Macaskill, an author of the paper and researcher at Sheffield Hallam University, told Times Higher Education that their is a clear lack of acknowledgement of the positive effects of stress in the workplace.

“No one’s looked at strengths and stress in academics,” Macaskill told The Times, “we’ve never known much about what is different from the people who cope well [with stress], and most people do cope quite well.

“We forget that a life with no demands would be boring and boredom can be equally stressful, ” Macaskill tells The Mancunion: “We need stressors from time to time to motivate us and keep us motivated.”

“Reductions in funding, relatively low pay, heavy workloads, long working hours, growth in the number of students, poor communications, role ambiguity, and striving for publication” were all cited in the study as causes of stress in academics.

The new study published in the Journal of Further and Higher Education, looked at exactly who copes better with these factors and why. The group of researchers found that certain character traits make academics more prone to being able to cope with the stress that inevitably comes with the job.

“People who cope well with stress tend to regard stressful events as challenges or opportunities and this makes them think differently about them.”

These findings are based on data compiled from 2,265 academic staff in the North West of the UK, and have important implications for the type of counselling and training that is given to those struggling to deal with stress. The three authors of the paper, all staff at Sheffield Hallam University, are strong advocates of positive psychology.

“Traditional courses usually include time management, something on relaxation and perhaps coping skills, whereas I would like to see courses that include more about learning how to think positively,” Macaskill explains.

Counselling and training services offered to UK academics undoubtedly vary from university to university. Counselling services offered to academics at the University of Manchester do include a certain amount of positive psychology that the study calls for, as counselling services offered at the University place an emphasis on  “find[ing] better ways of coping with the stress”.

Even with this attitude, “staff at all three Manchester universities reported higher levels of stress than the average for the general British working population” in a 2012 study by the University and College Union (UCU).

When the study was originally published, UCU called on universities “to consider these results carefully and take steps to protect the health and wellbeing of university staff in Manchester”, but as the new study emphasises, this is clearly still an issue.

The positive psychology approach suggested in the paper may be what is needed to finally defeat this issue.

The research group has also conducted similar studies with a focus on students. The results will be published in a few months time.